Wednesday, 1 May 2013

Brigadier General Salim Idris And Lebanese Cleric Sheikh Ahmad Al-Aseer Take A Trip To Syria

In the last 24 hours there's been some interesting images of various important figures taking field trips to Syria which I think are worth highlighting. First Shami Witness highlighted this photograph reportedly showing senior opposition commanders visiting the front-lines at Mengh air base, the scene of a major siege

Here we see:
- Colonel Abdel Jabbar Aqidi, former Chief of the Military Council of Aleppo and current armament committee member.
- Brigadier General Salim Idris, Commander-in-chief of the Supreme Military Council.
- Captain Ahmed Ghazali of the Northern Storm Brigade, famed for liberating Azaz.
- Mohammad Talas, command of Liwa Suqour Shuhada

It's extremely interesting to see these figures together, especially as Brigadier General Salim Idris was interviewed in Turkey a week ago, so would have traveled all the way to Mengh air base to visit the front-lines. It does raise the question of the purpose of the visit, could this be a sign of a major offensive about to take place, or just a visit to boost morale?

Sheikh Ahmad Al-Aseer is a very outspoken figure, and has heavily criticised Hezbollah and their support of the Syrian government during the conflict. This apparent appearance in Syria is very interesting when you consider his recent call to Jihad, telling his followers to join the Syrian opposition to fight against the Syrian government, and that the area he's been reportedly filmed in, Qusayr, Homs, has reportedly been the scene of fighting between the opposition and Hezbollah members inside Syria.